In supporting WWF in its global climate change initiative, Earth Hour, I have signed up for this run immediately when I got to know about it from the Net.

Earth Hour 2009 was a initiative involved individuals, businesses, governments and communities whereby they were invited to turn off their lights for one hour on Saturday March 28, 2009 at 8.30pm to show their support for action on climate change.

In KL itself there were several major landmarks that supported Earth Hour. KL Tower (below) was one of them.

I arrived at CapSquare around 3:30pm after lunch with Marianne at SPCA. The sky was gloomy. I feared that I would rain.

It did while I was in the queue to collect my Earth Hour T-Shirt and recycle bag for the Walk of Hope. (Insert scream here!)

Designer bag by Melinda Looi. It contained a pack of Tetrapack drink, some discount vouchers and slimming vouchers. Hrrrmph! As if I need slimming. LOL!

Think Recycle! Didn't win the game though.

Since I have a couple of hours to kill, I went around CapSquare, checking out the Earth Hour bazaars, design/ art exhibitions and then some....

See Charm All Stars Cheerleaders action-packed performance here.

I also caught Malaysian Idol, Jaclyn Victor and 8TV's Rina Omar practising "Here in my Home" for Earh Hour. They seemed to be having lots of fun on stage!

There was a marching band with bagpipes and drums! Check out their little dance routine in their skirts....erm, I mean kilts. :)

And I saw this clueless broadcaster! :) She thought that there was a candlelight run (larian berlilin). Didn't she saw the HUGE banner with "WALK of HOPE" on it at the start point? :P

The finalists for One in a Million made an appearance at the Earth Hour. I'm rooting for the girl with a big voice - Esther. :)

Local alternative rock band - Loudspeaker, singing "Walau" their first single. "Walau" is nice. They boys butchered my one of my favourite songs I'll Be, originally by Edward McCain later. I had to stop recording halway...:P

At around 7:30pm, the Walk for Hope participants were set off in front of CapSquare. Joining us were local TV personalities like Belinda, Prem etc.

Check out the video I made. They initially targetted 500 walkers for the event but thousands turned up. We took the roads of KL while cheering and waving to the crowd. It was AWESOME!!!

The song, Ever Wondered by Altered Frequency for the video above was lifted from a CD called Earth Hour featuring some local indie bands. Thank you to Kevin and Amelia for getting this CD for me. They were giving away this CD free at Sunway Pyramid - another mall that participated in Earth Hour Malaysia.

And finally the moment we were waiting for.......

Before the coundown, Joey G interviewed Yasmin Ahmad, a talented filmmaker and also the ambassador for Earth Hour Malaysia. She brought along her actors from her recent movie - Talentime - Mahesh Jugal Kishore and Hon KaHoe. The fearless, Sharifah Amani (Sepet, Gubra, Muallaf) also present to make a stand for the environment.

We countdown-ed to 8:30pm with Joey G. The light at Kl Tower was switched off to mak the start of Earth Hour. The absence of lights were replaced by the screams and cheers from the people at CapSquare. We were treated to an all girls Drum performance.

I almost fell flat on the floor after I tripped on the uneven pavement while walking around looking for a good spot to video the fire-eating stunts. Hmmmmm....Thank God, they switched the light off for an hour only.

I left CapSquare during the tap dancing show by Jojo Struys. Not that I didn't enjoy the show but I had to get home to rest and prepare for an outing on the next day. Sorry Jojo!

It was an unforgettable event. I was really proud to be part of the Earth Hour. Together, we can make a difference for out world.

I hope they have the "Larian Berlilin" next year.(Insert ROTFLOL here!)

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

I don't feel much write up is necessary for this post. Let YouTube show you what a fun night we had celebrating PACM 25th Anniversary. Enjoy!

The Dances

Note: The dancers were not Pacesetters members. The MC kept warning the audience not to drop their chopsticks while eating and watching the show at the same time. I could understand why. :)

The Song

What is Shanghai Night without the theme song from classic TVB Series, The Bund by Frances Yip? A sharp dressed Jacky took the stage with his very own rendition of that famous song. You can see some snippets of the rehearsal too, featuring Phyllis.

Wendy's daughther, Jessie then took the stage belting a karaoke favourite, Top of The World and a Chinese duet with a chubby dude. Sorry, didn't get his name. :)

Ong Duan Tun performed two songs - a Malay number called Cinta Hampa (not in the video) and a Japanese one. I don't know the title of the Japanese number but it matches Ong's vibrato voice.

The Cake

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Pacesetters Athletic Club, Malaysia. For two and a half decades, the club has been actively promoting healthy lifestyle through running in Malaysia. Watch the cake cutting and candle blowing ceremony. The cake was later distributed to all members present at the dinner. It was simply delicious!

The Best Dressed Contestants

The Best Dressed Contestants with a Gender Twist

Watch this...you will never see them do this in a road race! Heheh!

The Winner

From 10 contestants to 4. The four were regrouped as two couples. The pairing was like a match made in heaven. LOL!

Watch as they danced their way into the audiences’ hearts. Check out their reactions when they heard the music the moment they were about to ball room dance.

Who are the winners? Watch it till the end to find out. :)

The Longest Breath

Do you think runners have powerful lungs? Five of our veteran runners took the test...with hilarious results. Watch out for Bruce. Pardon the camera shake. I was rolling on the floor laughing!

Hope you enjoyed the videos. :)

HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY PACESETTERS ATHLETIC CLUB MALAYSIA!

Note: Hi-resolution presentation and original files are available for a nominal fee. Please send me an email request. Thank you.

I was quite excited about this event when I heard it from Jamie Pang a week ago. I got even more excited when I saw the various beautiful pictures of the multi-shapd balloons on some photography forums. So, on a mighty fine last Saturday morning, I took the ERL transit and then the NadiPutra bus to Monumen Alaf Baru, Putrajaya.

I smiled when I saw this sign on the NadiPutra Bus. Belon Panas = Hot Balloon! The balloons are literally HOT! :)

But.....

I went all the way to Putrajaya Hot Air Balloon Fiesta and all I saw was ONE miserable balloon!!!!

I was told that the featured balloons would only make two flights a day - one in the morning (7am) and one late evening 5pm. What?

Hmmmm...How silly of me to think that the hot air balloons were going to be tied to the fiesta ground for exhibition. Anyway, how do I supposed to know right? That was my first time going for such fiesta.

So what do I do then? Maybe I could take a balloon ride.....

Double damn! It was blazing hot and I really hated the annoying kids and their equally annoying parents who ran around the fiesta ground. So, I decided not to hang around and headed home. (Insert Arnold Schwarzenegger's "I'll Be Back" here)

I went to Putrajaya again on the next day. The sun was blazing hot but I did not complain as the blue sky was amazing for photoshoot!

I found a spot among the SLR firing squad at the far end of the field and waited. The scheduled flight at 5:30pm didn't happen due to some wind conditions.

Finally at around 6:15pm the technical crew started to pump the balloons up.

I was very annoyed by a bunch of SLR carrying selfish pigs (I wouldn't even want to call them photographers) who DISMANTLED the barricades so that they could move into the field and get close to the balloons.

Like a bunch of flies on a piece of shit, they hovered around the balloons, blocking the views of the people outside the field. It was so (insert beep here) hard to compose a photo without having one of them fly into the shot!

Come on, people! The barricades were there for a reason. The organiser should have tighten up the security and chase them out. Now that I got that out of my system, let's move on....

I squealed with excitement like little kid when I saw, one by one, the balloons were inflated from floppy nylon patches on the ground into huge peacock, elephant, clowns etc. It was awesome!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

We arrived at JB Train Station at around after loooooooooong train journey. No thanks to KTM’s notorious delay. We were delayed for two hours. We were picked up by Mr. Andrew Peris, a friend of Marianne. After a light breakfast at a local hawker centre, we begins our trip to NANAS.

After a 40 mins drive, we arrived at NANAS. We were greeted by a bunch of stray dogs outside the gate. Lotsa jumping. Pawing. Licking. Barking Wagging. Thank God no biting! We fed the dogs with a bag of dog biscuits.

Then the gate of NANAS opened. As we were entering the compound, we were "ambushed" by hundred of dogs!

More pawing. More jumping. More licking. More howling. More barking. And more butt sniffing too. Heheh!

I was totally floored by the overwhelming welcome!!! It was the best welcome ever any dog lover would receive!

After putting down our bags and meeting Mr. Raymund Wee - the Shelter Manager, Marianne gave me a grand tour of the place. She had been there once, so she was quite familiar with the place.

Everywhere we went, we were howled at. Dog-whistled instead of wolf-whistled at? Heheh!

The shelter was built in a 10 acres land in Pekan Nenas, complete with lotus pond, fruit trees and a resort like settings. Most of the dogs are free roaming. The cats are kept in the cattery. Oh yes, there are a few horses too.....

The horses were rescued racehorses. Usually racehorses are usually put to sleep due to injury or unfit for race. So, Raymund rescued some of them and put them in his sanctuary.

The shelter houses over 1000 animals - abused, abandoned, strays etc. That's 1000 mouths to feed everyday! The shelter depends on generous donations from the public to keep going. So, if you're animal lover, please please donate some money to the shelter.

As I walked around the shelter, I saw dogs with skin problems and promiment scars. Some even lost their limbs or eyes. Some horrifyingly disfigured due to abused cases or fights. My heart sank.

Each dog there has its sad story. I believe if I were able to listen to each and every one of their stories, I would have bawled my eyes out! Abandoned. Abused. Neglected. Tortured. Choked. Chained. Bashed. Stoned at. Left to die. By who? By our kind - Human beings!

Now, they are better off in NANAS than out there. So, I am happy for them. They have got people to care for them here.

I take my hat off to Mr. Raymund Wee, the founder and manager of NANAS. He quit his highly paid job at Singapore Airlines to start NANAS, which was previously in Singapore before they shifted to a bigger and better place in Pekan Nenas.

Mr. Raymund is so passionate when talk about his pets and his mission and fight for strays.

He also goes around Singapore and Malaysia, working with the local authorities to control stray populations by sterilizing the animals. He is also actively involved in educating children about responsible pet ownership in schools.

This is Mozart, the biggest but not the meanest dog in NANAS. (No relation to Beethoven.....Heheh!)

Marianne in the centre of attention of many adoring fans.

Roli enjoying some warm fuzzy lurvin'.

Reve getting wet and wild with Snoopy.

Joyride!

I want some.....I want some. See this cute face?

Coffee, tea or kitty?

One of the many beautiful marbles statues in NANAS.

Do you know the marble statues were "rescued" too? They were previously adorned some graveyards in Singapore until the government decided to exhume the graves for land development. Raymund creatively "recycled" those statues by putting them in his gardens, koi ponds, etc. Who would have known, right?

Meet three-legged Dino.

It is very challenging to shoot dogs picture in NANAS because they do not sit still and easily distracted by other dogs. But in one magical moment, Dino just “hopped” in front of me while I was taking the picture of the lotus pond.

He sat there for a couple of minutes, providing enough time for me to compose and shoot a few pictures of him with the beautiful background. This of course is my favourite photo from the whole trip. Whaddaya think?

From a very reliable source, Yasmin Ahmad, the renowned movie maker will be shooting her latest film there in June. And I beat her to shooting a movie at NANAS first. (Insert evil laugh here. Muahahaha!). Just kidding!

I am a fan of Yasmin Ahmad movie since Sepet. I have traveled all the way to Singapore to watch her movie “Muallaf” may not be screen in Malaysian cinema due to its “highly sensitive” content.

Dogs have been featured in Yasmin Ahmad’s movies in a very amusing light I must say. She's a dog person I think.

In Gubra, a bilal patted a stray dog on his way to the mosque.

In Muallaf, a dog seen was licking a PI’s hand before he extended his hand to a Datuk for a handshake, much to the Datuk’s disgust. But the irony of the scene is that the Datuk was drinking beer. Heheh!

Will the new movie feature more dogs? Is the sky blue? Heheh!

I’m sure the cinematography in new movie will look fantastic – lush greeneries, horses and hundreds of furry supporting casts.

OK, back to my own videos - please pardon the shakiness and the dirty lens. My movie was shot with just a tiny point and shoot camera. :)

The two short clips highlight our visit to NANAS - from the wag-a-tastic welcome to the unconditional love from our furry friends. What a good time we had there!

While having coffee in the next morning on our last day at NANAS, Grace excited pointed to two cats that were lying on the floor not too far from us. The cats were seen going at each other erm...milk glands. I was freaked out when I learnt that they were sisters. LOL! Sisters are doing it for themselves:

I have never seen such things in my life. Then again, I have never been around cats or dogs for such long period. 48 Hours! LOL!

The suckling couple was “guarded” by the resident dog named Susah! (Susah means difficult in Malays. What a name for a dog, eh?! Heheh!) I'm sure Susah no longer feel "susah" since he is very well taken care in NANAS.

According to Raymund, the cats were just pacifying each other. Cats do that if they were weaned too early from the mother. Only in animal world!

If I wanna pacify myself, I just go for a run or something. Heheh! : )

Hope you enjoy reading the post and watching the videos. Comments are always welcome.

Acknowledgments:

I would like to thank. Mr. Raymund Wee for having us and make us feel at home in his beautiful home and animal sanctuary. Thank you so much!

Animal lovers, SPCA die-hard volunteers- Marianne, Reve, Roli and Grace for making this trip memorable and tail wagging fun. Would like to Thanks Marianne again (she insisted..LOL!) for arranging this trip and providing all the dramas etc!

Not forgetting, dog-lover, Mr. Andrew Peris who pick us up at the train station to NANAS. Thank you!

Thank you to the furry four-legged (some 3 legged) friends at NANAS! Thank for the warm and fuzzy love!!! (Insert lots of licks and howls here)

Last but not the least, Thank God for lovely weather and the safe trip.

I didn't register for this run. I planned to come for this run to take some photographs of my friends. However, thanks to G, I get to run for free! :)

The route took us the the most hilly places in Bukit Jalil especially that rollercoaster-like Bukit Jalil highway. We had to run it twice!!!

My legs almost turned to jelly by the time I hit 5K. But thank God, I had loaded my MP3 player with expletive laden KoRn Greatest Hits Vol.1 earlier. So, I was head banging all the way as I pushed my wobbly knees to the finish! I think my ear bled in the process too. LOL!

The run was pretty well organised by the Taman Bukit Jalil Running Club. (Insert applause here). Traffic control was excellent, water adequate and the water melons were sweet!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Who? Hajime and Narumol are my running friends whom I always "bumped" into when I run in Thailand. Also click here.

It was 5.00am, I was already ready in my nicely pressed blue shirt waiting for Narumol’s brother, Ti to pick Tey and I up. When Ti arrived around 5:30am, I was surprised to see Hajime was in the same car! He was in his Reebok vest, shorts and running shoes! Yikes! He looked as if he was heading to a marathon instead of his own wedding. I chatted with him along the way to Narumol's house in Bang Sao Thong district where the wedding was held.

It was still dark. I couldn’t see where we were going. After about 20 minutes ride, we arrived at a two storey wooden house. Narumol was nowhere to be seen. She must have been busy preparing herself putting on makeup and stuff upstairs. I saw food are being prepared at the make shift tents next to the house. Chairs were being arranged. Tents were already erected outside the house. It reminds me of the Malay wedding set-up. Very much like a Malay kampung if not for the roaming dogs. Not too different from Malaysia.

Hajime excused himself to change into his traditional Thai costume. Tey and I walked around the house compound taking photographs. The day was dawning.
I did do some "research" in the web just to get some do and don't. So, the first thing I learnt was not to wear black. It is consider very inauspicious. The host would be deeply offended as black is usually worn for funeral.

At about 6:30am (local time), a bunch of monks garbed in their bright orange robe arrived at the house. I followed them upstairs. The floor was lined with red carpet, devoid any furniture. The guests were seated on the floor.

There were some speeches. I don’t really understand a word as my usual translator was busy getting married. LOL! In the picture below, Hajime and Narumol can be seen praying at the altar.

Thai people believe that number 9 is a lucky number. Nine in Thai pronounced as “Gouw” which means progressive. So, there were 9 monks to bless the wedding. They were seated on the left of the altar.

The newlyweds sat near the altar which a Buddha image was placed. A sacred thread joined the heads of both groom and bride and then unrolled into the monks hands (see picture below). The monks started to recite various chants to bless the couple.

The first monk held a special fan (Talapat) in one hand and a microphone in the other hand. With the loud speakers and PA system, the whole village could listen to the prayers. No kidding. :)

The newlyweds were also blessed with holy water by the monks.

You can take a Japanese out of Japan, but you cannot take the Japan out of the Japanese. :D Hajime brought his Olympus camera to the wedding and snapped his own photographs even though they had hired a wedding photographer. Very cute!!! :)

Nine plates were placed in front of the monks. Each plate contained rice, salted egg, biscuit and some other dishes. After prayers are over, the newlyweds presented the food to the monk. I learned that the monks cannot eat later than 12:00 noon. I wonder why?

My tummy was rumbling and I salivated when I watched the monks tucking in those yummy dishes. Upon close inspection, I did get close to get close up of the food, they contain meat. Apparently, Thai monks are not always vegetarian. They do eat meat unlike their Malaysian Chinese counterparts who are strictly vegetarians.

The monk left after the prayer and meal. Taking over the PA system from them was a live traditional Thai band. Jamming session started. :) Nice!

More and more guests had arrived. I went downstairs to the tents. The guests were enjoying the food while chatting incessantly. I joined the buffet party.

Speaking about food, do you know the food served at wedding is also being carefully selected based on the names? Food names that are similar sounding to long live, sweetness, happiness, love, luck and other auspicious words are favoured. Example, one of the desserts served was khanom jeen – which means long lasting love.

On the other hand, the food that gives love a bad name is avoided like plague. Example – the hot and spicy, tom yum soup. Tom yum means lying and cheating. Yikes! That’s my favourite! LOL!

After eating something light (a plate of rice and tonnes of desserts. LOL!), I got ready for the next ceremony – the Khan Mark procession.

The Khan Mark procession was led by the groom’s representative called “Thao Gae”, (I think it’s adapted from the Chinese - Teo Chiew dialect word for THE BOSS, or Tow Kaey). Following closely behind was an entourage, carrying offerings and gifts to be presented to the bride’s family.

The procession started from a neighbour house, a stone’s throw away from the bride’s house.

This reminds me of the Malay wedding. Instead of Bunga Manggar, the Thais used sugarcane and banana trees.

The sugarcane is used to denote its long lasting sweetness while banana is chosen for its fertility – bear lots of fruit. The sugarcane and banana trees are usually planted at the newlyweds’ house to signify sweetness and fertility of their love life.

Gong was beaten repeatly to announce the arrival of the groom.

The procession to the bride's house is the most exciting part of the wedding. Lots of fun and laughter along the way. Too bad I couldn’t participate. If not, I would get some money for shopping. LOL!

On his way, the groom have to pass through many “toll gate” made of gold chain. To open the gate, the groom must give some money to the gate keepers. The “Thao Gae” will do all the sweet talks and negotiation. Hajime was seen smiling away occasionally snapping photographs, just like a Japanese tourist. (See the video later)

Wow...look at them, they all came out full force to collect toll! But no worries, the Thao Gae has a stack of cash laden envelops in his hand.

The golden gates led to the room where the bride was hiding. After much negotiation at the last and most difficult gate, the groom gets to be with his bride.

Back to the procession part - the people who carry the trays must not be divorced or widowed. So, we get sweet young ones like the pics or happily married aunties carrying the offerings. LOL!

Next in the agenda was counting the dowry (sinsod). Literally, sin sod means “compensation for mother’s milk.” In the olden days, marriage means a loss of “worker or financial contribution” for the bride family because the bride would leave her family to be with her husband. So, some kind of compensation had to be given. But nowadays, sinsod is usually done because of tradition but the money would be returned to the newlyweds to build their life together.

During the wedding ceremony, money and gold jewellery are shown to the guests. In some cases, the more cash shown, the prouder the bride parents are – indicating a good catch! :)

Some wealthy family gives land, property, business and houses to the couple in addition to money and gold. In the old time, the groom family gave cows, water buffaloes, farm land, chickens, ducks and pigs to the bride to make sure that they will have good living after their marriage. Very practical, right?

Mrs. Nishii paying respect to Mr. Nishii. :)

The newlyweds paying respects to bride's parents.

The newlyweds paying respects to the elderly relatives. The newlyweds would hold a "candle bouquet" with the elderly relatives. The relative would say something to the newlyweds before giving an envelope which contains cash to them. In return, the relatives would be given a small token, in this case a piece of towel.

More event to come! Next - "Rod Nam Sung". Translation = ROD is soak, NAM is water, and SUNG is conch shell. Wow! I learned lots of Thai words by attending this wedding!

The holy water that was blessed by the monks earlier was used for this ceremony.

The newlyweds were seated with their hands clasped. The bride and the groom were connected by a sacred thread tied to the garland on their heads. They are tied together from this moment! For better, for worse.

Guests made a beeline to bless the couple by pouring water from a conch shell onto the newlyweds’ hands. The water is caught by the flowers placed underneath the newlyweds’ hands. In the process of pouring the water, guests are expected to say something auspicious to the newlywed. I find this tradition kinda similar to the process of “Merenjis Air Mawar” in the Malays Wedding in Malaysia.

The reason to use “sung shell” to put holy water because Thai people believe that sung shell is one of the fourteen sacred goddesses.

After performing ”rod nam sung”, the guest usually put an envelope containing cash as a gift to the newlyweds. In return, a little gift is given to the guest to commemorate the wedding.

This is a tip I got from my Thai friend before the wedding. Most Thai people would give even number like 400baht or 800baht. Avoid 600 as six or “hok” means fall (in Thai).

The envelopes with cash are usually placed in a container like this....But Hmmm......What is that running magazine doing in there. LOL!

I put together a video presentation of the wedding ceremony – a closer look at a wedding full of rich culture and traditions. Please forgive the “shakiness” as I am no pro videographer. Background music – Endless Love (Mariah Carey & Luther Vandross) and From This Moment (Shania Twain).

Acknowledgments: I would like to extend my congratulations and heartfelt thanks to Narumol & Hajime for having me at their wedding. I really enjoyed myself and it has opened my eyes to new cultures. I found many similarities between our Malaysian wedding ceremonies with the Thai ones. I hope you two achieve many more PRs in life together. Hope to run wit you all again!

Kop khun mag to Ti and Lin! Nice meeting you. Thank you for picking us up at the airport and chauffer us around. Remember to invite me when you two “teng ngan” (get married)! :D

Not forgetting Narumol’s parents and also friends whom we met at the wedding. Thank you for your hospitality and smiles!

Disclaimer: I am no expert in Thai wedding or in any weddings for the matter of fact. The above account is based on my own observations as a guest and some internet research. Please let me know by leaving your comments if you find any factual error in my presentation.

About Me

This is a virtual invitation for you to RUN WITH ME in most road races all over my beautiful country, MALAYSIA and also in oversea places that I have visited.... Don’t run in front of me, I do not want to chase you. Don’t run behind me, I don’t want to be pursued. Run beside me…and share my PASSION.

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